For this week’s blog, I wanted to tell a ski story, instead of introducing a new ski mountain. This story will bring us back to one of my first blogs about Jay Peak in Vermont. Last spring break, my sister, dad, and I went to Jay Peak and Canada for a fun trip. As I talked about it earlier, the glades at Jay Peak are just perfect, so, that is where we spent most of our time. Going up the mountain on the chairlift, we spotted a perfect spot in the trees, so we planned out our next run. As we reached the summit, we overlooked the pitch, which was basically straight down. But, we were up for a challenge.

We started making our way down the open trail which we curved off into the woods for the trees. This glade trail was probably one of the most difficult ones I have skied, but with difficulty comes fun! The trees were no more than a foot apart with huge moguls in between. I remember looking back up the trail and seeing my dad’s skis get caught in between the trees, causing him to fall face first. My sister and I laughed, but my dad didn’t find it so funny. 

As we glided through the powdered trees, we stumbled upon a cliff. Now, you could ski around it, as my sister and dad did. But, for some reason, I decided I wanted to jump off of it. So, with speed coming down the pitch, I went straight off the cliff, landing in a huge snow pile. Not very elegantly, my skies both went flying, leaving me stuck in a few feet of powder. My family found it pretty funny, but I didn’t. It was my dad’s payback for me laughing when he lost his skies. So, we were just waiting on one more wipe out, my sister. 

My sister is a snowboarder, so when she wipes out, it’s never a yard sale. But, in this glade, it somehow was. After my cliff incident, my sister took off her snowboard to help grab my skis for me. But, when she took her snowboard off, it ended up riding all the way down the mountain. So, she took off to go and get her snowboard, leaving my dad and me behind. This caused my dad to freak out, because the glade we were in, you had to ski in groups of three, as it was a very challenging trail. But, as my dad helped me with my skis, we lost my sister in the woods as she ran after her board. After I was all set with my skis, we realized my sister took off. My dad began to freak out, and so did I a little bit, as she left without a word. My dad and I were yelling through the trees as we skied the rest of the glade down, but we didn’t get any answer from my sister. So, we finished the trail and decided to call her phone once we made our way down. 

As we panicked all the way down the mountain, we began to see her footprints, to which we began to follow. Yet, once we reached the end of the footprints, she was nowhere to be found. This made us freak out even more. I don’t think I have ever seen my dad so scared and angry at the same time. As we came out of the trees and approached the chairlift, we saw my sister casually sitting and waiting for us by the chair line. So, we all made it out alive, with just a few scares.